Improved tank for preparing peat



A. BETTELEY. TANK PoR PREPARING FEAT.

No. 51,913. Patented Jan. 9, 1866.

1 ml'ffwm'g y et' the. water therewith combined.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT BETTELEY, OF BOSTGN, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0.5!,91 3, dated January9, 1866.

10 adac/10m 'it may concern:

De it. known that I, ALBERT BETTELEY, of oston, in the county of Suffolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented anl Improved Tank iorPreparing Peat; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken inconnection with the drawings which accompany and form part ot' thisspecification, is a description of my invention, su'iicient to ena-blethose skilled in the art to practice it..

In preparing peat for fuel'l the great difculty hitherto encountered hasbeen to get rid rate' the water by artiiieial heat, though practicable,is not practicaion account of the eX- pense involved. Where it has beenattempted to separate the solids from the iiuids'fonnd'in peat h vstraining' processes experience has shown a great loss of valuable solidmatter .from its passing oft' with the duid, part of the solid mat-terbeing so iinely divided that it esca-pes easily through thetinest.\viregauze or sieve-cloth.

.0n the Sth day of August, 1865, a patent was granteii to me for theemployment of atank which was to he filledv up with semiuid `peut as inits condition as taken from the bog, the peat being lett undisturbed, toallow the solid matter to separate from the water by the diii'erenee intheir specitic gravities, the superincumbent water being subsequentlydrawn ofi' by any suitable means.

In my present invention I employa tank of this description, and placearound the inner surface thereof a series of drain-tiles or othersuitable water-comlueting and porous pipes, extending vertically fromthe top to and Ithrough the bottoni ot' the'tanlr, or through vitssides, or to a main watereonduetor at or near said bottom. rlhese pipesmay also be erected in the interior of the tank; but I con sider it mostpracticable to only place them .against the sides ot' the vessel, inwhich posi'- tion they wiii be bestsupported Aby such sides.

1t will be oh'vons that the water percolating through the joints hetweenthe sections and through the porous material of the pipes will ireelyrunott through the channels made by the pipes, and theoperation 'of dryingthe Y peat will be thereby greatly facilitated.l It is ner, and ofsuitable material to resist the pressure of the semi-fluid peat.

b b represent the drain or'water pipes,which may consist of drain-tileorother similar material through which water will percolate. These pipesare fastened-' to `and supported against the sides of the tank, andextend from the top to the bottom ofthe same, or part oi them may extendthrough'the sides.

In the preparation of the peat and the use of the tank I proceed asfollows: As the crude peat is dug from the bog it has all large matters,such as roots, &c., removed therefrom. and then, by a raking orstraining process, the decomposed matter is separated from the fibrousor undecom posed matter; or these'two portions of the peat maybeintermingled and the fibrous portion reduced by the action 0i' asuitable grinding-mill. At this stage the mat-y ter treated will besemi-fluid, no provision having been made or treatment adopted forgetting rid of the water, and it can beelevated by a centrifugal pump orby an endless chain of bucket-s to the tops of the high tanks, in whichl propose to separate the larger part of the uid from the. solid matter.

There should he several tanks, in size and number to correspond with themagnitude of the operations to be undertaken. The proposed use andoperation of each tank is as foliows: The tank, being open at the topand clpsed water-tight elsewhere, is lied with the semi: fluid massbefore mentioned, and then is left long enough, without disturbance, toallow the solid matter to separate from `the Huid by the .difference oftheir specific gravities and the percolating of the water into thedrain-pipes, and its passage ol through them. By this action the peatwill be freed from a large percentage of the water combined with it.

When in proper condition forremoval from the tank, a screw,c, at thebottom is rotated,

'je for discharging the prepared.l peat, substansuch rotation drivingout the peat through an tially as set forth. opening, d, as will bcreadily understood. v In witness whereof I have hereunto set my I claim-Y hand this 1st day of December, A. D. 1865. 1. The' construction .ofthc tank with the e ALBERT BETTELEY. provision for separatin g of Vwaterfrom thc peat., Witnesses: l substantially as set forth. F. GOULD,

2. Combining with a tank so made the screw B. GLEAso.

